Ok. Let’s do this…
Heading to the church this
morning was a bit concerned considering it was one of the hottest forecasted days
this year. I knew that there was a string chance that I might sweat to death,
but thankfully it wasn’t that bad.
This is one of the few
times that I have actually worn a skirt to church in a while, solely on my own
choice. I still see a consistent skirt wearing trend amongst women of all ages
in the many churches I have seen regardless of age or how traditional they
are/or are not. Maybe it has to do with the whole “modesty” thing? Dressing
nicely? Excuse to wear a skirt? All I know is that I see it everywhere.
So this is the inside of
the church.
Some very nice quilted
banners * round of applause for all the grannies that surely made that possible.
The church had aprox 30
people in it, mostly seniors, and a had few people in their 20’s. No kids this
time. But one thing I did notice at the very back was a elderly man who
appeared to have some form of developmental disability. He didn’t seem to have
very effective speaking skills but was still very friendly, and seemed to be
very interested in his Disney Princess book? (or that is at least what it
looked like) .
The worship stared and
then after one song we were asked to stand up and great our neighbor. I met a peasant
middle aged fellow in front of me, he had a purple shirt on and orange rimmed
glasses, he said “Hi, my name is Duck!” …..I might have misheard that. I can’t
be sure. LOL.
The pastor was vibrant
young lady, who spoke well and with great enthusiasm. She also had a slight
accent ( I latter discovered that she is originally from North Carolina) In
this time I also shook hands with a very tall and thick set man in his early thirties,
he introduced himself as “Rebecca’s Husband”. Ps. Rebecca is the name of the pastor.
I noticed that thru the service that she
was more than willing to take in his wife’s words as she stood at the front and
spoke. He also took the worship very seriously.
Normally in most churches
there is some type of a projector screen at the front of the room. Normally displaying
the words to songs or the bible passages being read. Well let’s just say today
the projector was out of order and we had to do things old school, so there was
a lot of flipping pages back and forth between the song book and then the
bibles, but it didn’t bother me much. We had a lady that came up and read a poem
that she wrote called “Time Marches On.” I felt it was well done.
One of the things I really
noticed with this pastor is that she really pushes for this church to interact
with the service. I feel it to be a bold move to take on this approach considering
that this church was mainly filled with the elderly that were possibly raised
in a church were you shut-up and never think for yourself. I know far too well
that some old people do not accept change gracefully. She took a chance pushing
these seniors slightly out of their comfort zone with the addition of new
activities and interactions. And I am happy to report that it all appears to be
very positive and highly effective!
One thing that she asked
of her congregation today was to think about “all the people you know (and yourselves)
with their own personal gifts and how we can encourage them to use those gifts
in the community.” Then she had this thing set up.
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So the whole idea is that
you meditate on yourself and others and decide how you will act to help put
this all in motion. Then you were encouraged to go to the front of the room and
take a Dixie cup full of sand and poor it into the vase as your commitment to
using your own gifts for the betterment of other and encouraging others to do
the same. The pastor continuing to say “God’s
love shapes us our whole lives, from start to finish.”
The bible passage reviewed today was that of the
Samaritan woman. You know, the part where she goes to the well in the hot day
sun and Jesus asks her for a drink and she is shocked at this because Jew+Samaritan=
no interaction EVER.
And he tells her that if
she drinks from this well she will always become thirsty again, but he drinks
from his well, she will never be thirsty ever again. All along this lady is
putting the puzzle pieces together and starting to think that his guy may be
this “messiah” that has been spoken about. Bu here is the thing that you don’t normally
hear about, the rest of their conversation. Including the part where Jesus
looks at her and says “You have had 5 husbands, and the one you have right now
is not your husband.” Holly Hanna! Did not see that coming! I knew that the Samarian
woman was “divorced” but I guess there is a bit more to it than that. I felt this needed a bit more of an in-depth
look. A nice link here for your convenience.
After all this we were encouraged
to intermingle and discuss our ideas or how to use our personal gifts and how
to encourage others. There was a lot of talking but I couldn’t really get a
word in. But in my mind that was ok. There was a lady in my group that was
talking a lot about having a book club or a book exchange. At one point the
pastor came around and handed out sticky notes, for us to write our ideas down
on.
The rest of the service
consisted of the offering prayer requests, and making announcements. One of the
elderly lades stood up and told the church that she is now the proud great
grandmother of twin boys. God help that mother. She is going to need it!
I was reading the pamphlet
I was given at the door and I noticed the term “homebound”. Now reflecting on
it I more clearly realize what it means, but to begin with, I did not interoperate
it as people that are so ill that they can’t leave their house. When I first
saw this term, my impression was that this list of people had passed away. How I made this connection was the fact that
the praise “being called home” Is often said in relation to a person that has
just died. Hence my impression of the term “homebound”.
One of the last things
that happened was a announcement that one of the church members new baby
granddaughter was just baptized recently in their church. I personally grew up in a family that baptized
me as a baby, and I have no issue with it. But I have been to other places and
talk to some people who highly disagree with it. I have even encountered one lady
that had enough gumpf to tell me my baptism was “illegitimate”. Which I think
is bull-shit and deeply hurtful.
But it still got me
wondering, what does it really mean to be baptized as a baby? Cause as an adult
it is a full personal choice to commit one’s self to fallowing Christ. A baby doesn’t
have that ability to make that choice or understand it at that time. So what does it all mean? According to this pastor
it means that the parents of the child commit to teaching this child about god
and the congregation commits to help be supportive.
The more you know.
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